Heat-developing apparatus.



W- A. BONE, J. W. WILSON & C. D. McCOURT.

HEAT DEVELOPING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20. 1912- RENEWED JUNE ll, 19!?- L2534$ Patented Jan. 15, 1918. Q 3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WwMmnn/m WITNESSES 9. yw 6 g,

W. A. BONE, J. W. WILSON & C. D. McCOURT.

HEAT DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20I 1912- RENEWED !UNE II, 1917.

Patented Jan. 15, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

OOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO 00000000 0000000 000000 ,"ZWM ATTORNEYS WITNESSES outrun snares Parana @FFJIGE.

DOUGLAS MOCOURT, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 RADIANT HEAT- IN G LIMITED, 01? LONDON, ENGLAND, A CORPORATION OF GREAT BRITAIN.

HEAT-DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

Patented Jan. 15, 11918.

Application filed February 20, 1912, Serial No. 678,911. Renewed June 11, 1917. Serial No. 174,167.

useful Improvements in Heat-Developing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, forming part of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in the generation of heat and the heating of materials by combustion of explosive gaseous mixtures under the influence of porous refractory combustion accelerating material which is thereby heated and rendered incandescent so as to supply heat by radiation to the desired material. The incandescent porous material exerts an unusual accelerating action on explosive gaseous mixtures injected thereinto which burn with many fold accelerated and flameless surface combustion within the interstices pores or parts of the refractory material which may be in the form of granules of fireclay, magnesite or other suitable material. Such porous combustion accelerating material is adapted for the combustion of a large variety of combustible gaseous material, as for example blast furnace gas, producer gas, water gas, which may be carbureted, coke oven gas, coal gas, petrol air gas and similar hydrocarbon gas and other combustible vapors, natural gas and mixtures thereof, all of which are hereinafter referred to as combustible gases, although the temperature attainable in any particular case will naturally depend upon the calorific intensity of the gaseous material employed. The combustible gas is combined with air or other available supporter of combustion in substantially the combining proportions with, it may be, a slight excess or deficiency of air. although the proportions of the constituent gaseous materials may vary considerably and still secure.

an explosive gaseous mixture, such as is capable of explosive combustion or inflammation, possibly under conditions of increased pressure and temperature.

In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way several illustrative embodiments of this invention,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a form of steam generating apparatus.

Fig. 2 shows a detail of the boiler construction. I

3 is a front elevation of the boiler, parts being removed.

Fig. 4 shows in central section a tubular heating unit.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section along the line 66 of Fig. 6 showing a water tube boiler.

Fig. 6 is a partial horizontal section thereof; and

Fig. 7 is a vertical section through a pottery kiln unit.

In the illustrative steam generating system shown in Fig. 1, a tubular boiler is shown, of suitable construction for efiicient operation on the suction principle. The boiler may have a large diameter shell 1 provided with tube sheets 2 and 3 stayed in any suitable way and having a number of heating tubes 4 mounted therein and preferably arranged in two or more groups for convenience of firing and heat regulation. As seen by reference to Figs. 2 and 3 a suitable gas feeder, such as 10, may be mounted by the supports 11 on the tube sheet 2 so as to cooperatewith one of the groups of heating tubes. Each of the tubes 4 four feet or so long may be provided with a suitable plug 6 of refractory material adjacent its inlet end so as to allow the injection of suitable explosive gases such as mixtures of ordinary coal gas or coke oven gas with air in about the combining proportions at a speed normally in excess of the speed of backfiring,

through one or more suitable injecting holes 7 in the plug. The gas may be supplied thereto in any desired way as for instance through a suitable injecting tube 8 of iron or the like inserted in the injecting; hole '8 and having an internal diameter sufiiciently small to give the explosive gas stream or jet a high velocity at this point. This injecting tube may be united in any desired way with a suitable metallic throat 9 preferably of larger diameter and having sufficient length to provide with the tube 8 an inlet passage of suificient length to allow the proper mixing of the combustible gas and supporter of combustion therefor to take place before it enters the granular combustion accelerating material 5 within the heating tube. lVith this arrangement provided the tubes are operated under a suitable suction head so as to draw air into their inlet ends the gas may be supplied through suitable gas pipes 14 cooperating with suitable holes 13 in the gas chamber 10 and provided with suitable igniting valves 15 so as to regulate the discharge of gas through the nozzles 16 beyond but in line with the throats 9 which may as indicated project through suitable holes 12 in the gas chamber. For tubes of four inches or so internal diameter the granular material may with good results be formed of porous refractory fireclay granules of between about threequarters and one inch mesh packed within the tubes so as to substantially fill them with a porous mass while leaving tortuous passages between the combustion accelerating granules.

The boiler may be conveniently started by lighting each tube separately by holding a torch or other igniter adjacent one of the gas nozzles 16 and then opening the corresponding igniting valve 15 so that the jet of gas issuing from the quarter inch or so gas nozzle immediately ignites and burns.

within the throat 9 surrounded by an inclosing envelop or acket of air drawn in by the strong suction of the fan or other suction device and when the granular material just inside the plug has become sufiiciently heat.-

ed by this inverted blowpipe flame, in the course of a minute or so, the igniting valve may be turned off to extinguish the flame and immediately turned on again so as to inject against this heated granular material an explosive gaseous mixture which thereupon burns with accelerated surface combustion within the granular material. Any desired means may be used to prevent access of air to one of these inject'ug tubes which is not being fired and this may be conveniently accomplished by any suitable closing valve or disk, such as 20, which if desired may be mounted on the stem 19 of the injecting valve 15 so that both valves may be simultaneously operated to shut off the supply of gas to the injecting nozzle and prevent the further drawing in of air through the corresponding throat and injector tube. With ordinary coke oven gas for which this boiler is especially designed a length of twelve inches or so between the gas nozzle and the granular material gives suflicient mixing action and with the proportions indicated an internal diameter of the injecting tube 6 of about half an inch gives suflicient velocity at this point to prevent undesirable backfiring. Under normal operating conditions the hot gases from these most active surface combustion zones four to six inches or more in length adjacent the plugs in the heating tubes are drawn through the rest of the tubes, heating the granular material therein and the water outside the tubes and correspondingly reducing the temperature of the gases so that when they emerge into the smokebox 23 they may have a temperature no more than 200 or 250 degrees C. or so. The combustion zones of the heating tubes cause an unusually vigorous evaporation of the adjacent water causing a strong upward current at. this side of the boiler so as to insure ample circulation;

It is desirable for best results to pass these hot combustion gases through a suitable economizer or other heat utilizing device to still further reduce their temperature, especially if they are to be passed through an exhaust fan or other mechanical suction device which of course can handle with much greateretficiency and reliability comparatively cool gases having temperatures of 100 degrees centigrade or so. The smoke box 23 may as indicated in Fig. 1 be provided with suitable cleaning doors 21 each covering a hole 25 in the smokebox corresponding to one group of the heating tubes as indicated in Fig. 3. Thus by opening one of these doors the discharge ends of each of these groups of tubes are exposed for inspection or repairs. The gases in this smokebox may be under a suction head of 8 to 17 inches of water or so, so as to draw them through the smoke flue 26 into the neck 27 of the economizer 28. The exhaust flue 29 of the economizer may be under a suction head-of 10 to 20 inches of water caused by the exhaust fan 31 or any other suitable eX- haust device connected with the stack or exhaust flue 32, the degree of suction on the boiler and connected parts being regulated to the extent desired by the speed of the fan and also if desired by operating the slide damper 30 adjacent the suction flue 29.

By operating the boiler under suction produced by a suitable suction device beyond the economizer the gas may be supplied under the usual small pressure of an inch of water or so and the air is drawn into the heating tubes so that no special blowers or compressors are required for the air or combustible gas. The boiler tubes are also more readily lighted and regulated aa eaaaa responding throats being preferably plugged to prevent ingress of cold air under these conditions.- .This suction system of operating surface combustion apparatus is also desirable for other purposes, such as apparatus for the evaporating and heating of various liquids and for the operation of muflie and other furnaces, such as glass furnaces and the like where it is desirable to prevent the accidental contact of reducing gases with the work. Any crack in the muffle or heating chamber merely results in a small amount of air being drawn therethrough in the suction system, whereas with pressure operation unburned or burned gases might enter the chamber and come-in contact with the work. It is however possible to operate this boiler system by supplying the explosive gaseous mixture under the desired pressure produced by a blower or the like so as to force the gases through the heating tubes of the boiler and economizer, but means for so operating forms no part of the present invention. Fig. 4 shows a single heating tube adapted for the suction surface combustion of explosive gases so as to be used for the evaporation or heating of water or other material. The tube 41 may be of metal or other conduct-ing material including fireclay or other refractory material for high temperature work. This tube may be provided with the refractory plug 42 at its inlet end formed with one or more injecting holes 43 cooperating with suitable injecting pipes 44 of suflicient length to efl'ect the desired mixing of the gases. The gas supply pipe 45 may be provided with an igniting valve 46 and with a suitable gas nozzle 44 cooperating with the receiving end of the injecting pipe so as to inject the gas thereinto and form by injector and suction action an explosive mixture with the desired proportion of air. This explosive mixture is injected at a speed normally above the speed of backfiring into contact with the hot refractory material 48 preferably in the form of substantially uniformly sized granuleswithin the tube so as to efiect the surface combustion of the explosive gases which may be drawn through the suction casing 49 connected with the fan or other suction device 50. Any desired number of't-hese tubes may of course be mountedwithin a suitable reservoir or receiver for evaporating or heating liquids including metals and so forth and 'for other purposes.

, or otherwiseat any suitableangles. These tubes may as indicated in Fig. 6 be substantially uniformly spaced apart and packed within suitable refractory material such as granules or lumps of firebrick, magnesite and so forth 43 preferably of about uniform one inch mesh size. In this way the water tubes form more or less complete heating tubes or chambers between them and if desired suitable refractory partitions 55 may be arranged between the adjacent water tubes to more completely separate these heating tubes or chambers within which the accelerated surface combustion takes place. Each of the heating tubes or chambers is preferably provided with one or more suitable injecting pipes 56 with which any desired means for injecting explosive gaseous mixtures may cooperate, the explosive gases being, according to the present invention, drawn into these injecting pipes or passages under a pressure difierence of ten to twenty inches of water or an equivalent suction head produced by an exhaust fan or otherwise, the speed of the injected explosive gases being in any case sulhcient to normally prevent backfiring. For the suction operation of such boiler a suitable gas feeder 57 may be provided having suitable holes 58 therein cooperating with each of the injecting pipes 56 and having gas nozzles 59 each preferably with its own igniting valve 60 so as to control the stream of gas delivered into the injecting pipes and mixed with air drawn into the same and form the explosive gaseous mixture normally injected into contact with the incandescent refractory 'material and thus burn with many fold accelerated surface combustion within the heating tubes or chambers and supply heat to the water tubes 52 in an obvious manner. Each of these tubes may as indicated be formed with a suitable header 53 adjacent the lower ends. Suitable unions 62 may unite these headers which may be thus connected in series so as to be joined by suitable water legs 63 with one or more steam drums 64 mounted at the upper part of the boiler setting and connected in any desired way with the upper ends of these water tubes.

The combustion gases after passing up through the heating tubes or chambers may pass or be drawn into suitable exhaust flues 61 communicating with a fan or other suction device preferably after the gases have passed through a suitable economizer or other heat utilizing means reducingthe temperature of the exhaust gases to the desired extent.

A. kiln system suitable for operation on the suction surface combustion principle is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 7, the kiln 65 being formed of refractory material having any desired construction, such as that indicated for burning pottery or other material,

A suitable bridge or partition 66 of refractory material may be formed around the kiln so as to support one or more heatin beds of refractory granular material pre erably extending around. the inside of the kiln. Any desired number of injecting passages 68 may be formed communicating with this heating bed and any means may be used to supply explosive gaseous mixtures through these injecting passages. As shown the gas supplied through a suitable main 79 so as to be injected through suitable nozzles cooperating with the enlarged receivingends of each of these injecting passages through which air may be also drawn by suction to form an explosive gaseous mixture burning within the granular material. The combustion gases may as indicated by the arrows pass up around the refractory bridge and then enter one or more suitable flues, such as 70, and after passing through a water heater or other heat utilizing, device 7 2, such for instance, as a preheater for the air burned within the kiln may be drawn through the exhaust passage 73, an exhaust fan 74: creating suiiicient suction head within the kiln and connected parts.

Having described this invention in connection with a number of illustrative embodiments, forms, proportions, materials and arrangements of parts and orders of steps, to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, what is claimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for generating heat by the combustion of an explosive gaseous mixture, comprising a combustion chamber having an inlet thereto in communication with a source of supply of a combustion supporting gas, a porous and permeable bed of refractory material within said chamber adjacent the inlet, suction means connected with the chamber whereby a draft may be maintained through said bed insaid chamber and the combustion supporting gas sucked in through said inlet and means for discharging combustible matter in a finely divided state into said inlet in proportionate amount to form with the combustion supporting gas an explosive gaseous mixture.

2. An apparatus for generating heat comprising a combustion chamber, a porous and permeable bed of refractory material within said chamber, an inlet passage leading to said bed from a source of supply of a combustion supporting gas, suction means connected with said chamber whereby a draft may be maintained through said bed and the combustion supporting gas sucked through said inlet passage and means for discharging.

combustible matter in a finely divided state into said inlet passage in proportionate amount to form therein with the combustion supporting gas an explosive gaseous mixture.

3. An apparatus for generating heat comprising a combustion chamber, an inlet passage leading to the combustion chamber and in communication with a source of supply of a combustion supporting gas, suction means connected with said chamber whereby a draft through said chamber may be maintained and the combustion supporting gas sucked in through said inlet passage and means for discharging combustible matter into the inlet passage in proportionate amount to form therein with the combustion supporting gas an explosive gaseous mixture.

4. An apparatus for generating heat comprising a combustion chamber, a porous and permeable bed of refractory material within said chamber, a plurality of inlet passages leading to said chamber, suction means connected with said chamber whereby a draft may be maintained through said bed and air sucked in'through said inlet passages, a noz-' zle for discharging fuel into each said inlet passage to form therein with the air an explosive gaseous mixture, a valve for each nozzle controlling the supply of fuel thereto, and a closing valve for each inlet passage connected with the corresponding fuel valve whereby the sucking in of air through inlet passages from which fuel is cut ofi? is prevented.

5. An apparatus for generating heat comprising a heating tube, refractory material within said heatin tube forming a porous and permeable com ustion bed, an inlet passage leading to one end of the heating tube, suction means connected with the other end of the heating tube and means for discharging combustible matter into said inlet passage in proportionate amount to form therein with the air passing theret hrough an eX- plosive gaseous mixture.

6. An apparatus for generating heat comprising a plurality of heating tubes, refractory combustion-accelerating material Within said heatin tubes forming porous and permeable com ustion-beds, an inlet passage leading to one end of each of said heating tubes, a suction chamber communicating with the opposite end of each of said tubes, a nozzle arranged to discharge the combustible matter into each of said inlet passages and means for controlling the amount of combustible matter discharged from said nozzles whereby an explosive gaseous mixture will be formed by the air and combustible matter passing through said inlet passages into the heating tubes.

7. An apparatus for generating heat comprising a heating tube' packed with granular refractory material, a, constrieted passage charge combustible gas into said mixing pasleading into one end of said tube, an ensage.

larged throat connected to said passage and \VILLIAM ARTHUR BONE. forming therewith a mixing chamber or JAMES VILLIAM WILSON. passage, suction means connected with the CYRIL DOUGLAS MGCOURT. other end of said tube to Withdraw the prody Witnesses:

nets of combustion and suck air in throu h P. G. ALEXANDRE,

said mixing passage and a nozzle set to dls- CHARLES E. TAYLOR. 

